The present invention relates to a built-in kitchen unit containing a baking and roasting oven and a cook top, or cooking surface, equipped with a plurality of surface cooking elements, the unit being composed of cabinet-like components which are arranged immediately adjacent one another and are covered with a countertop, or countertops, to form a work surface.
In known built-in units of this type, the baking and roasting oven is arranged either next to the cabinet-like units, and thus is installed underneath the countertops, or it is inserted into a recess of a wall cabinet approximately at chest level. In the former arrangement of the baking and roasting oven, the user must insert or remove the baking or roasting containers, e.g. pans, sheets or baking dishes, into the cooking chamber when in a bent-over position, while with the accommodation of the baking and roasting oven in the more highly situated recess, the containers for the baked goods can be inserted and removed essentially while in an upright position. In both cases, while operating the oven cooking chamber, the user is hindered by the oven door which is generally pivotally mounted below the cooking chamber so as to extend, when in its opened position, horizontally forward from the baking and roasting oven.
Particularly when removing hot baked goods containers carrying hot baked goods there exists the grave danger, if manipulation is not adept, of incurring burn injuries. Older and handicapped persons, in particular, are exposed to such dangers to a great degree. The associated cooking surface with its built-in cooking elements is generally set into a countertop in an area under which the baking and roasting oven is disposed. Use of the cooking surface is also associated with a certain danger for handicapped persons because of the baking and roasting over being disposed therebelow, particularly if the oven is in a heated state. Moreover, the cooking recess inserted into the countertop interrupts the continuity of the work surface and an easily accessible work area is lost in this way for other work.